Oracle Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:ORCL)

Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) was the target of some unusual options trading on Thursday. Stock traders acquired 143,881 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 39% compared to the average daily volume of 103,336 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Loop Capital set a $135.00 price target on shares of Oracle in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $240.00 target price (up previously from $200.00) on shares of Oracle in a research report on Thursday, June 12th. DA Davidson boosted their target price on Oracle from $140.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 12th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Oracle from $235.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, Scotiabank assumed coverage on Oracle in a research report on Thursday. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $300.00 target price on the stock. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Oracle presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $215.61.

Insider Buying and Selling at Oracle

In other news, insider Clayton M. Magouyrk sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $214.10, for a total transaction of $3,211,500.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 60,722 shares in the company, valued at $13,000,580.20. This trade represents a 19.81% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Vice Chairman Jeffrey Henley sold 400,000 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.42, for a total value of $76,168,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 1,097,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $209,000,421.92. The trade was a 26.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 445,366 shares of company stock worth $84,784,653. Insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Oracle

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Elwood & Goetz Wealth Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in Oracle in the second quarter valued at $389,000. Chicago Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Oracle by 50.7% during the second quarter. Chicago Capital LLC now owns 103,303 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $22,585,000 after buying an additional 34,737 shares during the period. Trivium Point Advisory LLC boosted its stake in shares of Oracle by 55.9% during the second quarter. Trivium Point Advisory LLC now owns 53,535 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $11,704,000 after buying an additional 19,196 shares during the period. Melfa Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Oracle during the second quarter worth about $309,000. Finally, Hamilton Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Oracle by 4.5% during the second quarter. Hamilton Capital Partners LLC now owns 94,699 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $20,704,000 after buying an additional 4,092 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Oracle Stock Performance

NYSE:ORCL opened at $249.06 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $699.56 billion, a PE ratio of 57.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.61 and a beta of 1.39. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $194.31 and its 200 day moving average price is $168.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.07, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.75. Oracle has a 12 month low of $118.86 and a 12 month high of $251.60.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, June 11th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.70 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.64 by $0.06. Oracle had a return on equity of 87.34% and a net margin of 21.68%. The firm had revenue of $15.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.58 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.63 earnings per share. Oracle’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Oracle will post 5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.80%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.08%.

Oracle Company Profile

Oracle Corporation offers products and services that address enterprise information technology environments worldwide. Its Oracle cloud software as a service offering include various cloud software applications, including Oracle Fusion cloud enterprise resource planning (ERP), Oracle Fusion cloud enterprise performance management, Oracle Fusion cloud supply chain and manufacturing management, Oracle Fusion cloud human capital management, Oracle Cerner healthcare, Oracle Advertising, and NetSuite applications suite, as well as Oracle Fusion Sales, Service, and Marketing.